Windsor took centre stage Thursday as police from across the province executed a series of pre-dawn raids, stabbing at the heart of a notorious Toronto street gang involved in murder, drug trafficking and gun smuggling.

Investigators said the Dixon City Bloods, which runs a criminal empire centred around its turf on Dixon Road in the GTA, has been operating in Windsor since at least 2006. Police said Windsor was a major pipeline for the gang as it smuggled guns from the U.S. and funnelled them to Toronto.

The year-long investigation, dubbed Project Traveller, came to a head around 5 a.m. Thursday with 39 high-risk police raids in Toronto and Windsor. Toronto police said 42 tactical teams from 17 agencies were involved. Nineteen people were arrested.

Police cruisers sit outside the high rise apartment building at 320 Dixon Road. (Matthew Sherwood for National Post)

In total, 43 people have been arrested over the course of the investigation.

“The focus of the investigation has been on street gangs, in particular the Dixon Bloods operating in Toronto with Windsor connections, involving trafficking of firearms into Toronto from the United States,” said Windsor Deputy Police Chief Vince Power.

Blair said the investigation has uncovered evidence of gang members and associates being involved in murder and attempted murder plots.

Police said they also seized 40 guns, $572,000 in cash and $3 million worth of drugs including cocaine, crack, crystal meth, LSD and marijuana. Investigators wouldn’t say how much of that was seized in Windsor.

But Blair did say 11 of the warrants were executed in Windsor and nine people were arrested here.

Windsor police Supt. John St. Louis said more than 150 officers were deployed in Windsor for the raids. They came from the Windsor, Toronto, Chatham-Kent, Sarnia and London police services, along with OPP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Supt. John St. Louis speaks during a press conference at police headquarters in Windsor on Thursday, June 13, 2013. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)

Police executed search warrants at buildings in the 1800 block of Slater Street, 1000 block of Bruce Avenue, 800 block of Riverside Drive East, 1100 block of Ouellette Avenue, 1200 block of Central Avenue and 1200 block of Labour Crescent. They also raided places in the 2700 block of Scarsdale Road, 500 block of Partington Avenue, 800 block of Raymo Road, the 600 block of University Avenue West and the 1100 block of Stoney Brook Crescent.

During one of the Windsor raids, the Sarnia police tactical unit shot and killed a pit bull.

St. Louis said everyone arrested in Windsor has been transported to Toronto. They will appear in court there on Friday.

Windsor was a focus of investigation, said Blair, because of its role as a gun pipeline from the U.S. He said the gang has been networking with criminal associates in Alberta and Windsor since 2006. Some of those arrested have been directly involved in importing guns over the Windsor border, he said.

Blair added that 70 per cent of the crime guns seized in Toronto come from across the border.

The probe brought Toronto police to Windsor early this year. St. Louis said investigators approached Windsor police in January, asking for help.

“There is the influence of street gangs in the city of Windsor, plying the trade of cocaine trafficking,” said St. Louis. “There is an absolute presence of Toronto street gangs in the city of Windsor. That has been the case for a while and it’s something we deal with on a daily basis in our DIGS unit.”

Power said that while police dealt a major blow Thursday to the gang’s criminal enterprise, the problem of drugs, violence and gun smuggling hasn’t disappeared.

“I can tell you that’s not going to go away,” he said. “These are criminal enterprises. They’re running business, illegal businesses. That’s what they do. They are criminals with a business template. So there is always going to be work to be done.”

Police take a woman into custody from the high rise apartment building at 330 Dixon Road. (Matthew Sherwood for National Post)

Police drive away after taking a man into custody from the high rise apartment building at 330 Dixon Road. (Matthew Sherwood for National Post)

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